Bedtime Stories
by Dept.Of.Redundancy.Dept
Summary: Monica and Gracie meet an old friend of Gracie's and Gracie experiences her first assignment involving death. Takes place after God Given Gifts.Any reviws good or bad are appriciated by the author!
1. Chapter 1

"Gracie, are you familiar with the term 'babysitting'?" Monica asked. The two angels were perched on top of an old yellow house watching the clouds go by.

"I'm afraid I don't." Gracie responded. "Is it where you sit on a baby?"

"No, no." Monica chuckled. "It's more of watching the child than sitting on it."

"I think they should rename it." Gracie giggled.

"Rename what?" a voice behind them asked. Startled, Gracie and Monica turned around.

"Andrew!" Monica smiled. "What are you doing here?"

"I was in the neighborhood and I thought I would say hi." He paused for a second and looked at Gracie. "You must be Gracie." Andrew said extending his hand for a shake.

"And I'm guessing your Andrew." Gracie smiled retuning the gesture.

"The Angel of Death at your service."

"Technically you're not "the" Angel of Death." Gracie pointed out, putting air quotes around the word 'the'. "I'm pretty sure there's more than one."

"Gracie!" Monica scolded. "Be nice!"

"Monica!" Gracie mimicked. "I'm just saying the facts!"

"No she's right." Andrew said. "Monica, Gracie In would like for you to meet Jeremiah, my Angel of Death in training." Andrew moved out of the way to reveal a thin scrawny boy about Gracie's age. He had curly light brown hair, freckles, and thick black glasses. He smiled at Monica and Gracie.

"Hi Monica." He said extending his right hand to Monica. Firmly he shook her hand.

"Nice to meet you Jeremiah." Monica smiled back.

"Gracie." He said turning to her. "Long time no see."

"You say that like it's a bad thing." Gracie huffed.

"You two know each other?" Andrew asked.

"We were on search and rescue together." Jeremiah said.

"You were on search and rescue?" Monica asked.

"For a short time yes." Gracie sighed.

"You're not still mad about me accidentally pushing you into that lake are you?" Jeremiah asked.

"Yeah, 'accidentally'" Gracie said glaring at him.

"Okay well what ever grudges we have I think that it is time to let them go." Monica said.

"Well I can let them go," Jeremiah said. "But I don't know about Gracie…"

"Hey!" She snapped. "I have nothing against you!"

"Truce then?" Jeremiah asked extending his left hand.

"Fine." Gracie grumbled. Slowly she reached out to shake Jeremiah's hand.

"Ouch!" Gracie shrieked, yanking her hand back. "He shocked me!"

"What?" Monica asked. Grabbing Jeremiah's hand Gracie opened the fist he was making to reveal a small shocking device, like the ones people get at the prank store.

"What's wrong with you Jeremiah?" Gracie snapped. "You really need to learn how to grow up!"

"Oh come on Gracie." Jeremiah chuckled. "Are you mad because I shocked you or because you know you should have expected it but you didn't?"

Gracie paused for a moment. "Both." She finally said with the hint of a smile on her face. "It's nice to see you again Jeremiah."

"You too."

"Well it's sort of nice to see you again."

"Same here."


	2. Chapter 2

"So all I have to do is watch Bethany right?" Gracie asked, cautiously walking up the drive way that belonged to James and Victoria Aarons and their six year old daughter Bethany the next day.

"Yes that's it Gracie." Monica answered.

"Are you sure?" Gracie questioned.

"Why are you being so doubtful today Gracie?" Monica sighed.

"I'm not its just… it seems so easy. It feels like I'm not really doing anything, just playing with a little kid." Gracie shrugged.

"Just have fun Gracie okay?" Monica said. And with that she was gone. Puzzled Gracie put her hair up and then rang the doorbell.

"Hi." The woman at the door smiled. "You must be Gracie. Someone named Monica said that you would be here." The woman glanced at the clock which read 2:50 pm. "And you're early too. Here come on in."

"Thank you Mrs.…." Gracie paused as if she didn't know her cases name.

"Aarons."

"Cool."

"Bethany should be home from school any minute now. And I would like for you to meet my husband Mr. Aarons." As soon as she said that, a man who Gracie guessed was Mr. Aarons came in wearing a suit and tie and carrying a brief case.

"Hello Gracie." He said. "So you're the girl who is going to be watching after our little Bethany."

"I sure am."

"I have to say that it is a miracle that we were able to find you on such short notice."

"Well the Lord works in mysterious ways…" Gracie said.

"He sure does." Mrs. Aarons replied. "Okay well there is some frozen pizza in the freezer so you guys can have that for supper along with a salad of course. Also Bethany is not to watch T.V or go on the computer until she has finished her homework. Before she goes to bed at eight thirty, she needs to take a bath brush her teeth. Also she likes to be told a bed time story.

"Okay sounds like fun!" Gracie chirped.

"Have fun and be safe!" Mrs. Aarons called over shoulder as she and her husband headed towards the door. "Our number is on the fridge so don't hesitate to call if there's a problem. We should be home at around ten thirty!" Then Gracie heard the door slam. Seconds later she heard the sound of the car backing out of the driveway and driving up the street.

"Well this should be interesting." Gracie said to herself. Then she plopped down on the couch and waited for Bethany to come.


	3. Chapter 3

"Who are you?" were the first words that came out of Bethany's mouth when Gracie opened the door at 3:15 sharp.

"I'm your new babysitter." Gracie said.

"Oh." Bethany said, letting herself in.

"You must be Bethany." Gracie said.

"Yea."

"Don't you want to know what my name is?"

"Sure."

"My name is Gracie."

"Can I call you Grace?"

"No."

"Why not?" Bethany whined.

"Because that's not my name." Gracie said.

"So?"

"So would you like me calling you something that's not your name?" Gracie asked.

"Like what?"

"Like Beth?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because my name is Bethany."

"Good. The we're on the same page." Gracie smiled.

"Can I have a snack?" Bethany asked, tossing her backpack on the ground along with her jacket.

"I guess so. What do you want to eat?"

"Food." Bethany answered. Then she spun around and ran full speed into the kitchen.

"Hey!" Gracie called after her. "No running in the house!"

"Or what?"

"Just don't do it okay?"

"Maybe. If I feel like it." Bethany retorted. Even though Gracie couldn't see her charge, she could tell that Bethany was sticking her tongue out at her. Sighing she took her hair down out of its ponytail and then went into the kitchen to see Bethany with a huge stack of cookies on her plate.

"Bethany what do you think your doing?" Gracie asked putting her hands on her hips.

"Your hair looks pretty down." Bethany commented ignoring the question completely .

"Okay how about we put about ten of those cookies back in the cookie jar and then eat an apple along with it.

"But then I'll only have three cookies!" Bethany wailed.

"I know. Your stomach will thank me later."

"No." Bethany said stomping her foot.

"Yes!" Gracie said stomping her own foot.

"Enid let me eat as many cookies as I wanted!" Bethany shouted.

"Who's Enid?" Gracie asked.

"My old babysitter." Bethany pouted. "And I liked her way better then I like you!" With that she made a 180 degree turn and stomped out of the room. A few seconds later Gracie heard a door slam. Things with Bethany were not going well at all.


End file.
